Change the background of your Pages, Numbers, or Keynote document

You can add a color, a color gradient, or an image as the background for your document, spreadsheet, or presentation.

Change the background of your Pages, Numbers, or Keynote document on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

You can change the background of your documents in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Pages

In a word-processing document, changing a page background also changes the background for all of the pages in the same section. In a page layout document, you can change the background of any single page.

With a document open to the section or page you want to change, tap an empty space on the page so nothing is selected.

Background options for Pages and Keynote on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

To quickly choose a preset background, tap the color well next to Background, then choose a preset color, gradient, or image.

To choose a more specific color, tap Color, then choose a color from the swatch picker.

To create a two-color gradient background, tap Gradient, then use the color pickers to choose swatches. Tap Flip Color to change the direction of the gradient.

To add an image as the background, tap Image, then tap Change Image, then navigate to the image you want. You can scale, stretch, tile the image, and more.

Change the background of your Pages, Numbers, or Keynote document on Mac

You can add a color, a color gradient, or an image as a background in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on Mac.

Pages

In a word-processing document, changing a page background also changes the background for all of the pages in the same section. To change just one page, make that page its own section and then change its background. In a page layout document, you can change the background of any single page.

With the document open, click the View button in the toolbar, then choose Page Thumbnails.

Select a thumbnail of a page you want to change. In a word-processing document, the other pages in the section are bordered in blue in the sidebar.

Click the Format button .

To quickly add a background, click the box next to Background, then choose a preset color, gradient, or image.

Custom background options for Pages and Keynote on Mac

To choose a more specific color, choose Color Fill, then choose a color from the swatch picker or the color wheel.

To create a two-color gradient background, choose Gradient Fill, then use the color pickers or the color wheels to choose the two colors in the gradient colors. For example, choose purple to start the gradient, and blue to end the gradient. Use the other controls to change the angle and direction of the gradient.

To add more than two colors to a gradient fill, choose Advanced Gradient Fill. Use the slider to add color stops to add more colors to the gradient. Click a color stop to change the color of that stop. Drag the color stops and use the other controls to change the blend, angle, and direction of the gradient.

To add an image as the background, choose Image Fill, click Choose, then navigate to the image you want. You can scale, stretch, tile the image, and more.

To add a color overlay to an image, choose Advanced Image Fill, then click the color picker or the color wheel and make your adjustments.